God Speed

Cyd Charisse - mgm portrait
Originally uploaded by The Happy Wanderer.

Cyd Charisse.

I always thought she was the classiest lady in Hollywood. I just admired her dancing ability and what little girl really didn't want her fabulous name and dance partners?

Tragedy

on the first Saturday in May.

We don't know what Eight Belles means on a horse farm, but in nautical terms "eight bells" marks the end of one's watch shift. - USAToday

Such a heartbreaking end to what should have been a glorious day.

8 December 1980

the dreamer was ended. his dream lives on.



We miss you, John.

What a little racehorse taught me about life

I read the news today, oh my. And, for a follower of the "ponies", it is a sad day indeed. The legendary racehorse, John Henry has passed. Gone to the big race in the sky to battle down the homestretch with the other greats of the sport.

And, I am heartbroken, indeed. For John Henry, although giving me great thrills at his exploits at the track, also taught me a great deal about life.

No..really.

John wasn't from the true "blue" blooded side of the track. His sire, Ole Bob Bowers was once sold for $900. John himself wasn't purchased for millions at the well-heeled sales at Saratoga. He barely brought in $1,100 at the Keeneland sales, after bashing himself in the head in the stall and arriving into the sales ring bloody.

He "suffered" the indignity of being gelded because he had his own mind...and mean temper. He also was undersized. Underweight. Underbred with unremarkable conformation.

He raced early on. He was a "workhorse" and managed to bring in some money and some attention. He was finally purchased by Dotsam Stable, the stable of Dorothy (Dot) and Sam Rubin. They shipped him out to California to the stable of Ron McAnally.

And...in the California sun and the glare of the racing public....John Henry blossomed. He started winning. Big. And the racing "elite" took notice. The fans turned up in droves to see "the little horse" that could. He captured the nation's imagination.

He certainly captured mine.

I would ride the Greyhound bus from Santa Barbara down to the tracks in the Los Angeles area, camera in tow and Racing Form in hand. And watching John in action truly was breath taking. Coming from the "nose bleed" section of the pack to win by a whisker he would give us thrills and excitement, and, yes, disappointment. He didn't win them all, but you knew he gave it his all. And we all loved him for it.

He was a ham. He truly loved the fans..almost as much as we loved him. I would squeeze up to the paddock rail to see the little guy. He would look around the ring, and, I kid you not, spot the cameras. As he was being walked around the ring, he would stop infront of someone who had a camera and "pose" until he heard that shutter click. I have a couple of great photos of him "smiling" at me.

So, what did he "teach" me, you ask...well...

John showed everyone that one can truly go from "rags to riches." It didn't matter if you weren't from the good side of the tracks or bloodlines, you could still have the talent to prove yourself an individual.

John showed that you could turn your anger and "meanness" to do good, and be productive. He was cantakerous, often ill-tempered, even after being gelded. That was just who he was...and he turned that "meanness" into a productive end result. Dogged determination.

John showed that winning wasn't the only thing....it was HOW YOU RAN YOUR RACE. It was the effort that mattered. Sure, winning was a great thing, but it wasn't the ONLY thing. Showing heart. Giving the task at hand your best effort. THAT was the important thing.

John showed that intelligence was part of any game, too. Chris McCarron often said that John knew when to move in the race, all by himself. He (Chris) was just along for the ride.

John also showed that knowing yourself was a key component to a "winning" life. He would walk carefully to morning workouts, making sure he didn't stumble on rocks or collide with other horses more "high strung." He knew that taking his time to the track was his "modus operendi". His "peeps" understood that too. John trained them well.

John was the "working man's" horse. He earned his place of greatness in the sport, and in our hearts, through toughness, tenacity and hard work rather than sheer brilliance. He taught us that life involved hard work, and having to work was nothing to be embarassed about. It was to be celebrated.

His final race record stood at 83 starts, 39 wins, 15 seconds, and 9 thirds with $6,497,947 in earnings.

• Voted 7 Eclipse Awards
• Voted Horse of the Year 1981 and 1984
• Won Horse of the Year more than once, but not in consecutive years
• Voted Eclipse Award for Outstanding Older Male Horse 1981
• Oldest horse to win Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year - at age 9
• Oldest horse to win a Grade 1 race - at age 9 (tied)
• Voted Eclipse Award for Outstanding Male Turf Horse - 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984
• Won 30 stakes races
• Only horse to win the Arlington Million (G1) twice - 1981 & 1984
• One of only two horses to win the Santa Anita Handicap (G1) twice - 1981 & 1982
• Won more grade stakes than any other Thoroughbred - 25
• Voted racehorse of the decade for the 1980's
• Retired as the world's richest thoroughbred - July 28, 1985
• Inducted into National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1990
• Ranked #23 in the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century

It wasn't the awards and the acclaim that were bestowed upon him that made him so legendary, it was his dogged tirelessness and his "never give up" despite the odds attitude. It was the lessons that he taught this little railbird girl, and his millions of other fans around the world, that will never be forgotten. It was the hope that he gave us, all of us "non-blue bloods", that someday, we, too, could show class and greatness.

And, one of the most controversial, but most exciting of John Henry's racing days....the Santa Anita Handicap of 1982. I was there. Screaming my throat and lungs raw...cheering him on...jumping up and down along the rail along with the thousands of others....rooting on the "little horse that could."

John Henry, the "Steel Driving" horse with a "cinderella" story.

God speed, John. God speed.

God Speed, John Henry

“The mighty heart of the great John Henry has, at long last, yielded to time," expressed John Nicholson, executive director of the Horse Park. "The racing industry has lost a legend, but more significantly, many people have lost a personal hero. John Henry’s true legacy was written in people’s hearts far more indelibly than his superlative racing career could ever reflect. - The Bloodhorse

I remember seeing him at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park. He loved the crowds. He posed for the cameras. He was a ham. Chris McCarron, one of the legendary jockeys who "rode" him, once confessed that John knew what he was doing during a race and that he (Chris) was just along for the ride.

And, my....what a ride it was.

30 Years Ago Today

The King left the building for "The Promised Land"

Mr. Feisty is Gone

He was just a little, blue (with a little dash of red) guy but he was pretty much my constant companion for the past three years. I got him on my birthday for free....from a, what was then, new pet store in Tujunga. I fell for the sales pitch hook, line and sinker. Free fish...but $40 dollars worth of fishy accoutrement later you realize you've been had. I fell for this little fish, too.

I named him Mr. Feisty because, well...he simply was. He'd try to bite me when I fed him. He'd play with his food...sucking it in then spitting it out, often right out of the water. Pattoooiieeeee! He'd charge the bowl when he'd see me come near. One time he hit the glass so hard I heard I "clink." He tried to jump out of the bowl on a couple of occassions. And, having to live in my car trying to get away from an abusive relationship and trying to relocate back home in Santa Barbara...he was there with me in his little "carry on" container...eyeing me carefully...plotting his getaway.

He hadn't been feeling well this past couple of weeks. He was getting puffy and his gills were swelling. He wasn't charging for his little boyant food pellets. His brilliant blue turning grey. I knew it was only a matter of time. I just didn't think it would so hard letting go of his little fiesty companionship.

He was so ornary that he wouldn't even hold still for a photo. But I found a photo of a Betta that kinda had that fiesty blue/red "mean" sheen.

Who knew that a little fish could show so much personality and how much I already miss him.

A Toast to a California pioneer

who has passed. Salud, Ernesto. Love him or hate him....you have to admit, what an amazing life.

Ernest Gallo, who with his late brother Julio created a post-Prohibition wine business that became one of the most dominant in the world, has died. He was 97.

.. Gallo "put California on the wine map of the United States and then, through exporting, put California on the wine map of the world," said Nat DiBuduo, president of Fresno-based Allied Grape Growers, the state's largest wine-grape-growing cooperative.

.. Ernest, who was the power behind the company, handled the marketing and business end, while Julio, sometimes called the farmer at Gallo, oversaw wine-making.

When the Gallo brothers first started the business, the joke was that Ernest's goal was to sell more wine than Julio could make, and Julio's was to make more wine than Ernest could sell.- LATimes

Ernest Gallo -- who, it is said, once told his brother "you make the wine and I'll sell it'' -- was a ruthless businessman. He reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission in 1976 for using strong-arm business tactics such as forbidding his wholesalers to carry non-Gallo brands. He played hardball with the United Farm Workers union, earning himself and his company widespread enmity that has never dissipated. Gallo was the subject of a long UFW boycott in the 1970s and another in 2005. - SFGate

The stock market crash of 1929 decimated the elder Gallo's finances. In 1932, he retreated to a rundown raisin-grape ranch south of Fresno, while Ernest and Julio tried to keep his Modesto vineyard going.

On June 21, 1933, hired hands discovered the bodies of the elder Gallos at the Fresno ranch, dead from an apparent murder- suicide. The father's debts totaled almost $30,000, while his assets were scarcely a 10th of that amount.

Ernest Gallo sought a probate judge's permission to continue his father's grape-growing business. He persuaded Julio to start a winery in a leased building in Modesto with equipment bought on credit. It was Ernest who devised a profit-sharing plan to pay grape growers only after their wine was sold. Then he went to a local public library to research commercial winemaking.

The shelves were bare of helpful books, in the same way Prohibition had decimated the ranks of experienced winemakers. But in the basement, a librarian unearthed pre-Prohibition pamphlets written by a research scientist at the University of California at Davis. - Bloomberg.com

Ah...the power of libraries.

Lester Ferdinand Borchardt (1907 - 2007)

You might not know his name..nor face, but you, and millions of kids, know his "invention". Cheerios. Certain atheletes owe a debt of gratitude to him as well, for he was involved in creating Wheaties, too. Lester Borchadt passed away last week at the age of 99.

Cheerios, originally called Cheerioats, were invented by Lester Borchardt back in 1941, but Cheerios almost didn't happen.

Les and his team were working on the machine to puff cereal, like Cheerios, but his boss wanted them to stop the project. Les insisted they go on, and two months later, Cheerios was born.

"Some people referred to him as a genius, and I do think he was," said Les' Daughter-in-Law Mary Borchardt.

Years ago Les' granddaughter drank a bottle of furniture polish. Cheerios may have helped save her life.

"So we took her to the emergency and had her stomach pumped. The doctor came out and said if she hadn't had such a good breakfast of Cheerios and milk, she would have not made it," said Mary Borchardt.

Les' family said he was humble and didn't talk about all his inventions and patents. He had 11 of them and he also helped come up with the process to fortify milk with vitamin D.

He worked at General Mills for more than 35 years and his daughter said he ate Cheerios just about every morning of his life. - WCCO

...In a brief autobiography he wrote after retiring, Borchardt said he took pride in bucking his corporate bosses when he felt it was necessary. He discussed one research team's work on a piece of equipment used in the production of breakfast cereals like Cheerios.

A worker came up with an idea for increasing the machine's output, so Borchardt decided it was worth pursuing to see whether it would work.

"Two years and $150,000 later my superior passed on to me the word that his superior felt that the time had come to terminate the projects," Borchardt wrote. But Borchardt said his staff thought they were close to a breakthrough, so he stood his ground.

Two months later, the project was a success. At the time he retired, Borchardt said, the company estimated the process was saving it $1 million a year. - St. Paul Press

Have a big bowl of Cheerios for Les sometime this week. What a terrific way to pay tribute.